Meant to be a lighthearted poll, booking tickets to India for my family of four. Briefly considered upgrading to biz class, we go rarely so we could afford it but held off as it I'll set expectations for the kids. Wondering at what TC (combined) do folks switch to biz class consistently... TC: (500 me+ 180wife)
Op yoe
Long-haul business class is a ridiculous waste of money and only exists to fleece corporations with deep coffers. Long-haul first class is for people whose alternative is flying private. The reasonable luxury choice for ppl paying from their personal monies is Premium Economy, or just Economy but on a good airline (far east airlines, some European ones).
IBM hasn't flown enough to hate it. (I'd done 1M miles before I'd turned 35.) I fly J for work and will pay for it out of pocket for personal trips to S or E Asia. You make enough to afford it. Look up the EK fare sales and leave on a weekend to avoid peak fares. And who knows, maybe your kids will look forward to going to India as a result.
I do have kids. I didn't think OP was proposing taking young kids in J. That's insane. They should be at least 8 years old.
^ imo waste if they don't drink champagne
I have been flying business for any trip more than 5 hours now. I skip official trips which require travel by economy , like 1000s attending org wide conference. So is it really so costly? No. Trick is to plan early, use promos, fly cheaper airlines rather than full service carriers. Also, actively keeping an eye for offers helps. American Airlines runs up to 80% more points offer. And you can use 70k points for one way ticket. Meaning you would spend only 3k roughly to get return business tickets. Kuwait Airways is fairly unknown but has decent business class options. 3k for a return ticket. Nothing like Emirates or Etihad but one night of peaceful sleep never hurts anyone. Also, if you travel for official work, make sure to accumulate all points on single airlines membership through partner airlines network. Don’t spread your points across airlines. One last trick, if travelling alone. You don’t need full business class. SFO to Dubai is good. Sometimes the travel is such that you can book business class for long haul and economy for shorter leg. Don’t do this with family as in case of cancellations and delays, it would be harder to arrange alternatives. Also, you would need longer connection time to allow for checkin. Terminal change without visa is also a issue. But if planned, this offer great option on certain routes. Last one, few airlines allow last minute upgrades at very low cost. Malaysia airlines allow upgrade at airport for 600 bucks extra during last 3 hours of flight departures. So to your question, it does not take million dollar salary to justify business class ticket. Being street smart can save enough money to upgrade.
Kuwait is a dry airline. Jeez, man.
I am water guy... don’t even drink coffee , so does not matter to me .. but good point . People who want to spend extra bucks for drinks on airlines should stay away from this airlines.
Nice troll LOL
Lol at almost every reply in this thread is from a blind top contributor 😂
Why would young, enegitic and healthy folks need anything other than a seat?
Try traveling with two kids on a 25 hr flight, you'll know why
I hoarded my miles for years only to see them get heavily devalued. No more. Now it’s earn and burn. My last 4 annual trips to India have been in business with my wife and 1 kid. FWIW, we both have travelled heavily in the past and my wife continues to travel frequently for work. The new systems that reward you for $ spent versus distance flown has been pretty useful with replenishing our mileage balances. That said, kids getting used to traveling in the front cabin is concerning too. My daughter recently asked me if she would be able to sleep (lie flat) on a 1 hour domestic flight. 😂
Given plane tickets never cost money...always choose first/business. This is what all those miles, points, and upgrades are for.
Agreed. You can also make good connections flying first. Just use miles and such correctly